Vessel of Hatred: Gamescom Showcase Blog Post!

Yesterday, Blizzard announced what to expect from Gamescom 2024. Today, Blizzard released a tons of informations with a Vessel of Hatred Gamescom Blog Post alongside a Video!

If you want to check out the Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Gamescom 2024 Showcase, you can find it following this timestamped link!

Delve deeper into Nahantu with Mercenaries, Dark Citadel, and More

The perils ahead are best faced with the kinship of an ally, wanderer. During the Xbox livestream at gamescom, the Diablo IV® team dove deeper into exciting new features coming with Vessel of Hatred™. Venture forth to learn more of what lays in wait within the jungles of Nahantu, where hatred stirs and corrupts all it touches.

The many subregions of Nahantu each have their own corrupted monsters that plague the land. There’s the Lacuni, apex predators of the Tenganze Plains, and the venom-infested burrows of the Skittering Earth. The Hollows own the Lingering Hatred treetops, while the hallucinogen-riddled Dregs proliferate throughout the dense canopies of the land. These twisted lands are symptoms of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred’s deep grasp on this once flourishing land. Discover what dark machinations lay in wait…and the powerful tools you can wield to face them.

The vast jungles of Nahantu brings forth new allies and challenges. Fight through the Dark Citadel co-op endgame activity, where you will collaborate to overcome many tribulations and earn the bountiful rewards within. Go boldly, and never go alone–forge new paths with newfound companions from across Sanctuary using the Party Finder tool. Sanctuary is changing before your very eyes, there are murmurs of progression updates looming ahead, permanently changing levelling across Diablo IV.

Never Fight Alone! Mercenaries are by Your Side

The road of hatred is bereft with dark deeds; it is better to walk the path with an ally by your side. Mercenaries are your steadfast companions that will share your hearth and fight by your side when called upon to aid.

Unlocked during the Main Quest in Vessel of Hatred, these stalwart partners are here to ensure you never fight alone. They will follow you to the deepest dungeons and endure the darkest battles. Each Pale Hand Mercenary carries their own past, inclinations, and unique skills to rally beside you in combat. Descend into the Den—the secret hideout for the Mercenaries—and complete key quests to bring further unique brigands to your side.

The Mercenaries: A Motley Crew

There are four Mercenaries to call to your side: the indomitable Raheir the Shieldbearer, sly Aldkin the Cursed Child, grizzled Varyana the Berserker Crone, and the cunning Subo the Bounty Hunter.

Seek out the other Mercenaries throughout Nahantu, each with their own questline to gain their employ. Upon completing the Vessel of Hatred campaign, Raheir will be available to use in combat. Each of these fighters has their own quirks and accompanying qualities to help you in battle. Their abilities are made up of a variety of choices, with a broad mix of utility and damage-based skills to customize how these allies complement your given playstyle.

• Raheir — Shieldbearer
  Born to the lawless streets of Gea Kul and trained by the noble Iron Wolves. Rahier uses his Shield to devastating effect, blocking incoming attacks and protecting you from the many hordes of the Tenganze.
• Varyana — Berserker Crone
  A former cannibal who left her tribe when they started dealing with darker forces, she is a butcher by trade, turned Mercenary. Varyana has a Massacre meter which grows in strength the longer blood feeds her blades and scales off the killstreak. Varyana wields brutal hand-to-hand weapons that are her instruments of carnage; those that come within her grasp fall swiftly.
• Aldkin — Cursed Child
  A half-child, half-demon creature: Aldkin was born part-demonic as a result of the First Khazra within the Citadel performing dark rituals on his mother. Aldkin has the ability to undergo Metamorphosis, shapeshifting him into a powerful Demon to fight by your side.
• Subo — Drunken Archer
  A disgraced Archer from the mountains, shunned by the same people who had looked to him for salvation, now a bounty hunter for hire. Subo stays outside of the melee, raining down volleys of arrows to quell monster hordes. Subo will mark targets for your disposal—kill them to earn benefits such as reduced Ability cooldowns.

Enlisting and Hiring Mercenaries

Mercenaries can offer their support by joining your Party, by Hiring them when playing solo, or by selecting them to add key Reinforcements in times of need.

Hiring Mercenaries

You have the choice to select one of your unlocked Mercenaries as your hired hand. Hiring a Mercenary selects them as your main companion, and when playing solo they will join your party to use their host of selected skills to aid you in combat.

Mercenary Reinforcement

Select another unlocked Mercenary within the Mercenary Den to be your combat Reinforcement.
Reinforcements will emerge during combat to perform a skill to aid you in combat. Each Mercenary has abilities they can use to reinforce you by casting one of the skills you possess, or through a specific combat scenario. Setting this in-game action to trigger is called an Opportunity. For example, Reinforcements can have their Opportunity set to activate when you are hit by a Control Impairing Effect.

Note that you will need to have a different Hired Mercenary than the one who is currently your Reinforcement. Once you have unlocked another Mercenary outside of Raheir, you’ll be able to equip someone in both slots.

Earning Rapport

Trust is most swiftly earned in the blood-strewn throes of battle. This trust with Mercenaries is known as Rapport. Rapport is what you’ll use to upgrade each Mercenary, earning skill points to unlock more of their abilities, caches, and increasing your ability to barter with each of your cohorts.

Earn Rapport with different Mercenaries by using them as Reinforcements or Hired hands in battle. Mercenary-related events will appear through Sanctuary to earn great amounts of Rapport with your loyal companion. Each Mercenary has 10 Levels of Rapport to earn, and repeating the last level will earn you additional Pale Marks.

Pale Marks

These potent Coins are earned through Rapport, granting you the ability to purchase items from each Mercenary and used to refresh their wares available for trade. Pale Marks can be used for Bartering with each Mercenary to purchase coveted items from their inventory.

Bartering

Each Mercenary has a specific inventory for barter, which can be upgraded to offer a wide variety of Caches. Pale Marks can be used to broaden the items they’ll have available to barter, along with influencing which items may appear in their inventory next.

Vendor

Though each of these warriors deals in death, they carry their own specialty within The Den. Seek out their corresponding talents as Blacksmith, Occultist, Jeweler, and trusty Stash holder.

The Dark Citadel

Deep in the heart of Nahantu lies a twisted testament to the depths the First Khazra will go to achieve their ends. Within lies the ultimate co-op challenge, the first of its kind in Diablo IV. This endgame, cooperative dungeon rewards groups of players that can best the many perils that lay within. Venture through three individual wings to solve challenges, face deadly battles, and collaborate to emerge bloodthirsty to face the final boss.

More than one wanderer has tried—and failed—to break this fortress. Only together with others can you expect to prevail over an evil that slowly grows stronger. The Dark Citadel is ruled by The First Khazra, who use the powers of the Citadel to perform wicked experiments on captured villagers, all in an attempt to resurrect an almighty demon by sacrificing souls.

Brave the Dark Citadel

The Dark Citadel holds three separate Wings, each with their own secrets to unlock and demonic plans to unravel. Brute force will only let you venture so far; the cooperation of your allies is the key to besting each Wing before finally facing off against the final boss.

Besting these complex bosses and intricate wings will require the efforts of your entire party. Each wing can be taken down as a group, and can be done in multiple visits if you require respite during this grand task. Communication with your allies will be key within the walls of the Citadel, and a new Marker System will be available to help indicate your next intended move.

Earn Coveted Rewards

Every week you can earn a Weekly Rewards cache the first time the Dark Citadel is completed. These caches could grant you resplendent and exclusive items only offered from Dark Citadel.

Throughout the Dark Citadel, you’ll earn Citadel Coins, which are key to unlocking cosmetics exclusive to Dark Citadel that evoke the regal mania of its demonic owners.

Unlock the Path to the Citadel

The Dark Citadel becomes available once you reach the endgame. You’ll receive an introductory Quest to begin your journey, which only needs to be completed once on your Account.

Find Allies and Bolster your Party

Mastering this challenge requires a minimum of two players, but it’s recommended to raise arms with a party of four for the best chance at emerging triumphant. The ideal way to approach this mighty challenge is to search far and wide for like-minded players…

Party Finder Feature

Party Finder is here to help you find the right allies! This new feature is available across Diablo 4 when Vessel of Hatred releases, allowing you to find wanderers of a similar mettle within Sanctuary.

Go Far, Go Together

Party Finder gives you the ability to list the type of party you’re looking for, set what game type or activity you’d like to run, where you’d like to play, and add preferences for both casual and completionist players alike. When Vessel of Hatred releases, this new feature will be available to all Diablo IV players, allowing you to find just the kind of party you need.

You can use Party Finder to list or find a party for multiple activities within Sanctuary: from slaying through Nightmare Dungeons, selecting Wings to complete in the Dark Citadel, finding other players to share Materials to summon Endgame Bosses, to completing your Codex of Power. Party Finder can be accessed in a variety of ways, with quick access via the Map, in-game Menu, or through a pre-set action on your emote wheel.

Kurast Undercity

A plague grows deep in the belly of Kurast; a sickness which will devour Nahantu if left unchecked. Search the Undercity for a cure…or plunder its forgotten riches for yourself.

Kurast Undercity is an intense new multistage, time-attack dungeon perfect for levelling towards endgame content and targeting powerful items to help you progress. Learn more about the many rewards you can reap as you fight from alley to alley in the belly of the Undercity.

Clear the Streets

In the Undercity, every second counts as you fight against hordes of demons and time itself, as it rapidly depletes out in this time-limited mode. Greatly increase the quality of your rewards by earning Attunement—gained through killing monsters and completing events—slay powerful Afflicted demons to extend your time in the Undercity to reach the final boss.

Augment your Run and Reap the Rewards

Undercity is the prime location to source the power needed to push to your highest potential. Throughout Sanctuary and within the Undercity, you’ll earn keys called Tributes which can be used to augment future runs to target specific rewards. Completing activities while in the Undercity collects Attunement, which increases the quality of the loot rewarded after slaying one of the Undercity’s all-new bosses. Higher quality Tributes yield the greatest spoils, but they also raise the challenge of your next Undercity run considerably.

New Progression Updates

Across Sanctuary, the progression updates coming with Vessel of Hatred will offer a permanent and fundamental shift in how you level and progress throughout the world. Similar to the overhaul to itemization in Season 4: Loot Reborn, these permanent changes to the base game are aimed at making levelling more rewarding, putting more power in your hands.

You’ll be able to access deeper customization to power earlier in your character’s adventure, reinvigorating the leveling journey to new heights. We’ll have more to share on August 29th—stay tuned for more details!

Pre-Purchase Vessel of Hatred

As revealed at the end of the Mercenaries Reveal trailer at Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, you can now instantly unlock the new Wings of the Damned Cosmetic whenever you pre-purchase the Deluxe or Ultimate Edition of the Vessel of Hatred expansion for any platform. Your new wings will be retroactively granted to anyone who has already pre-purchased these editions of Vessel of Hatred.

Patch 1.5.1, Vessel of Hatred... What's next?

We hope you enjoy the Season of the Infernal Hordes with the aid of our Season 5 guides, tier lists and resources as well as our Patch 1.5.1 updates. Our focus now is to keep things up to date and to make sure our Build Guides are still solid material. We're continuing to work on more updates! We'll also keep monitoring Vessel of Hatred Gamescom informations and more to keep you updated!

With that said, head over to our Discord to stay up to date with our content development and to make the most of your Season 5 experience! Also don't forget to check out our Youtube channel!

Written by: Chewingnom